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Monthly Archives: April 2015

For a month now, the Saudi air force has been bombing Yemen to reverse a takeover of that nation of 25 million by Houthi rebels, and reinstall a president who fled his country and is residing in Riyadh.

The Saudis have hit airfields, armor and arms depots, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Nearly 1,000 dead, 3,500 wounded and tens of thousands homeless. The poorest nation in the Arab world is near collapse. Dependent upon imported food, Yemen faces malnutrition and starvation.

And the United States has been an accomplice in the Saudi bombing of Yemen.

Why? Why is Yemen’s civil war America’s war?

What did the Houthis ever do to us?

While they bear us no love, their Houthi rebellion was an uprising against a pair of autocrats who had been imposed upon them, and against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen is the latest casualty of a neoconservative strategy commissioned by the US Army to ‘capitalise on Sunni-Shia conflict’ in the Middle East – the goal is nothing short of ‘Western dominance’

Yemen is on the brink of “total collapse” according to the UN high commissioner for human rights. Saudi Arabia’s terror from the air, backed by Washington, Britain and an unprecedented coalition of Gulf states, has attempted to push back the takeover of Yemen’s capital Sanaa by Shiite Houthi rebels.

As Iran-backed Houthi forces have pressed into Aden, clashing with Yemeni troops loyal to exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, the US has provided live video feeds from US surveillance drones to aid with Saudi targeting. The Pentagon is set to expand military aid to the open-ended operation, supplying more intelligence, bombs and aerial refuelling missions.

Since the hostage crisis in 1979 mainstream US TV, which is still the main source of information for most of the people in the US, has not really shown multiple sides of Iran. The media coverage has focused on the happenings in 1979 and showing recordings of Iranians shouting anti-American slogans. The hostage crisis took 444 days and Iran was seen as the main adversary of the US. Unfortunately this view has manifested itself since then.

If you compare the hostage taking with what is happening these days in other parts of the world, it does not seem as insuperable hurdle for peace making. The hostages were not put in orange jumpsuits, were not beaten or tortured, they were basically put under house arrest. Shortly after the embassy takeover, the students released women and African American personnel, citing solidarity with “oppressed minorities.” Another hostage, Richard Queen, was released in 1980 due to health problems.
70% of the Iranians are under 40 years. So most of the people living in Iran were not even five years old when the embassy takeover happened. I don’t care about the governments but the people deserve peace and shouldn’t be barred from reestablishing friendship.
After all why should this be impossible when the US could see Germany as partner and friend a few years after millions were killed in WWII and the Holocaust. Germany got a second chance and a lot of help (Marshal Plan) after committing unbelievable crimes.

Iranians still hold a lot of admiration for the US. Opinion polls show the majority of Iranians hold a favorable opinion of Americans, making Iran second only to Israel as the most supportive country in the Middle East. Iranians are not resentful and they are very well informed about the US ( Satellite TV, Internet ), may be if bigger parts of US media could focus on representing the majority of Iranians instead of a tiny minority, a lot of misunderstandings between our people could be solved.

It’s very strange that Sunday talk shows, ostensibly to explore political questions, never have an Iranian as guest. Glenn Greenwald reports at The Intercept:

Sunday morning news television is where Washington sets its media agenda for the week and, more importantly, defines its narrow range of conventional, acceptable viewpoints. It’s where the Serious People go to spout their orthodoxies and, through the illusion of “tough questioning,” disseminate DC-approved bipartisan narratives. Other than the New York Times front page, Sunday morning TV was the favorite tool of choice for Bush officials and neocon media stars to propagandize the public about Iraq; Dick Cheney’s media aide, Catherine Martin, noted in a memo that the Tim-Russert-hosted Meet the Press lets Cheney “control message,” and she testified at the Lewis Libby trial that, as a result, “I suggested we put the vice president on Meet the Press, which was a tactic we often used. It’s our best…

At the heart of the concerns surrounding the deal with Iran is a simple question: Is Iran rational? For many critics, the answer is self-evident. The Iranians are “apocalyptic,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often said, warning that you can’t “bet on their rationality.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has declared, “I think they’re crazy.” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon restated his opinion recently that the Iranian government is a “messianic and apocalyptic regime.”

And yet, these same critics’ preferred policy is one that relies on Iran’s rationality. The alternative to the deal forged by Iran and the six great powers is not war, they insist, but rather to ratchet up pressure and demand more concessions from Tehran. So, this crazy, apocalyptic band of mullahs, when faced with a few more sanctions, will calmly calculate the costs and benefits and yield in a…

While the ostensible rationale for Saudi Arabia’s recent intrusion into Yemen is that the conflict is part of a bitter proxy war with Iran, the coalition that Riyadh has assembled to intervene in Yemen’s civil war has more in common with 19th century Europe than the Middle East in the 21st.

When the 22-member Arab League came together at Sharm el Sheikh on Mar. 28 and drew up its plan to attack Houthi forces currently holding Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, the meeting bore an uncanny resemblance to a similar gathering of monarchies at Vienna in 1814. The leading voice at the Egyptian resort was Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. His historical counterpart was Prince Klemens von Metternich, Austria’s foreign minister, who designed the “Concert of Europe” to insure that no revolution would ever again threaten the…

In August 2012 the former Shin Bet (Israeli Security Service) Director and commander-in-chief of the Navy, revealed Israel’s intention to create a Sunni vs Shia coalition to form against Iran and other Shia Muslim factions in the region. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Ami Ayalon stated that for the existence of Israel it is “Very important to create a Sunni coalition”. He goes on to explain by Sunni coalition he means:

“Turkey, with Egypt, with Jordan, with Saudi Arabia understand that the major conflict is with SHIA, led by Iran”.

It is worthwhile noting that this interview is from 2012, and in 2015 a coalition of the above countries has essentially been formed in recent weeks to attack the Shia Houthis in…